Albanian MP arrested, again, on Belgian murder warrant

TIRANA, April 2 (Reuters) - An Albanian lawmaker from the ruling coalition was arrested on Thursday on murder charges filed in Belgium, the latest twist in a political scandal involving allegations of contract killings, false testimony and police cover-ups.

The MP, Mark Frroku, was already under house arrest on suspicion that he and another ruling party lawmaker had concocted murder accusations against the speaker of parliament, a coalition ally of the Socialist Party of Prime Minister Edi Rama.

On Wednesday, Albania's chief of police resigned and two local Interpol officials were arrested after the interior minister alleged that a warrant for Frroku, issued by Belgium and seeking his handover to face separate charges of murder, had been suppressed.

Lawmakers on Thursday endorsed a call by prosecutors for Frroku to be re-arrested and hours later he was taken into custody.

The arrest won rare cross-party support in the usually polarised parliament.

The snowballing scandal has emerged as a test of the government's resolve to impose the rule of law in Albania, a member of NATO that also hopes to join the European Union but where organised crime and corruption are rife.

Frroku, escorted to parliament by police, appealed to his fellow MPs and denied being behind the murder of an Albanian man in March 1999 in a Brussels train station.

"I have not committed any penal crime, any crime in my life, never killed or goaded anyone to kill or threaten another," he said before the vote.

"I never shirked legal responsibility but for 16 years the Belgian judiciary and authorities did not find the smallest piece of evidence to hold against me," he said.

Frroku's lawyer, Saimir Vishaj, confirmed his arrest.

He was also charged with money laundering and refusing to declare his wealth. (Editing by Matt Robinson and Alison Williams)